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Discord "won me" over the voice chat. It's just so easy to use and setup for people. I know it's a hard pill to swallow on HN but NOT everyone wants and/or can

Discord "won me" over the voice chat. It's just so easy to use and setup for people. I know it's a hard pill to swallow on HN but NOT everyone wants and/or can run their own TS/Mumble/Ventrilo server. That's the number 1 reason Discord became popular in gaming groups. Want voice chat for your WoW raid? 2 clicks. Going to play CSOG with your friends? Here is the voice chat channel. Discord is not perfect for sure (the search function is atrocious for example) but more intuitive and easier to use than the other options. And you can also stream, share screen, rich embed things etc.

spaniard89277 5y ago
mmm I don't know, I've found myself needing to reload Discord multiple times. For voice chat with my friends I use Jitsi, it works way better.
kristjank 5y ago
You can get just as good voice chat on Signal, and it is miles easier to use than Discord, especially for people familiar with WhatsApp, Viber and other privacy invaders. And all of the screenshares and embeds that Discord gets glorified over work just as well over [matrix]
- 3OCSzk 5y ago
  It might be easier but I'm not leaking my phone number just to have voice chat with internet friends
  - xigoi 5y ago
    So it's better to leak over other personal information? Use Jitsi or something.
    - remram 5y ago
      What personal information? All you need is a screen name. I don't think Discord even requires an email to join a server (if guests are enabled).
      - xigoi 5y ago
        It's nonfree software, so you can only assume that it's spying on you.
        iqanq 5y ago
        I don't care if Discord sees my ip/email, but I really, really don't want other users to see them.
        xigoi 5y ago
        Oh. I thought you were complaining about giving your phone number to Signal.
      - doublerabbit 5y ago
        You do require email and mobile authentication text message on sign up.
        remram 5y ago
        But you don't have to sign up to chat, you can open Discord in your browser and join a server as guest. Granted, the server might limit what guests can do. I just went through the sign-up process and no phone number was required though, only email.
  - tasha0663 5y ago
    Giving out a phone number to make a phone call. The horror :)
- charcircuit 5y ago
  >and it is miles easier to use than Discord No, it's not. With Discord you can just send them a link and have them join your chat / vc. They don't need to install an app, not do they need to make an account.
  - donkarma 5y ago
    you need to use app to voice chat on discord, and need an account to use anything on discord
    - yoavm 5y ago
      Unless this is a new thing, I used to do video and audio calls on Discord on Firefox on Linux without issues. No app.
    - charcircuit 5y ago
      The app is only needed for a couple features of voice chat like push to talk when Discord is in the background unfocused. Server owners are able to configure a verification level. When on the lowest verification level (which is the default setting when making a server) new users without a discord account can join by simply typing the nickname they would like to use.
  - maven29 5y ago
    Navigation is horribly broken if you don't login. You're just stuck in a loop typing in usernames. Several OSS projects that I've seen even have sophisticated bot protection and code of conduct agreement schemes that will hide the useful channels until you apply reactions on verification messages. IRC channels used to keep public logs. Can we at least have parity with that?
- voidfunc 5y ago
  Signal is a pile of crap. Seriously I am in a small chat with four other people and sometimes it just doesn’t sync messages and when it does my phone turns into a vibrating sex toy for 20 minutes.
- mcintyre1994 5y ago
  Does Signal even have some sort of channels? From their website it looks like it's just chats like iMessage/WhatsApp etc? It might be great at what it does but no Discord I'm in would work without channels.
  - gobip 5y ago
    It is exactly like WhatsApp. In fact, nowadays, WhatsApp is Signal (as in, they use the same protocol), but it's the same hierarchy: contacts + groups of contacts, and nothing else.
- ViViDboarder 5y ago
  I feel like Discord is very different than Signal or WhatsApp and target very different use cases. Signal and WhatsApp are basically replacements for phone, SMS, and MMS while Discord is meant to be more of a community with many people on many topics in many channels. They are all quite good at what they do, but they do different things. A more direct alternative to Discord is Matrix.
- agentdrtran 5y ago
  Discord and signal are completely different apps for very different use cases.
donkarma 5y ago
yeah how long until they run out of VC funding? no chance this is profitable. i know many people who use discord as their personal cloud storage
- pteraspidomorph 5y ago
  Anecdotally, yes, but I doubt most users deliberately make themselves unprofitable. There're millions of kids who just want to use voice chat and share meme gifs. Plus Discord has been gating a lot of features behind Nitro in recent years, and they make a lot of money from Nitro/Boost purchases (it's hard to tell since they're privately owned but they might make close to 200 million this year). I suspect they can stay afloat without VC funding (though they keep getting it anyway). And their valuation is really high.
vitaflo 5y ago
Agreed. They also do some black magic where even with my mic wide open it won’t pick up things I don’t want it to. I could eat potato chips right into the mic and it won’t turn the mic on, but as soon as I speak it does. The vox in discord always amazes me. It seems to always know what I want to transmit and what I don’t.

spaniard89277 5y ago

mmm I don't know, I've found myself needing to reload Discord multiple times. For voice chat with my friends I use Jitsi, it works way better.

kristjank 5y ago

You can get just as good voice chat on Signal, and it is miles easier to use than Discord, especially for people familiar with WhatsApp, Viber and other privacy invaders. And all of the screenshares and embeds that Discord gets glorified over work just as well over [matrix]

3OCSzk 5y ago
It might be easier but I'm not leaking my phone number just to have voice chat with internet friends
- xigoi 5y ago
  So it's better to leak over other personal information? Use Jitsi or something.
  - remram 5y ago
    What personal information? All you need is a screen name. I don't think Discord even requires an email to join a server (if guests are enabled).
    - xigoi 5y ago
      It's nonfree software, so you can only assume that it's spying on you.
      - iqanq 5y ago
        I don't care if Discord sees my ip/email, but I really, really don't want other users to see them.
        xigoi 5y ago
        Oh. I thought you were complaining about giving your phone number to Signal.
    - doublerabbit 5y ago
      You do require email and mobile authentication text message on sign up.
      - remram 5y ago
        But you don't have to sign up to chat, you can open Discord in your browser and join a server as guest. Granted, the server might limit what guests can do. I just went through the sign-up process and no phone number was required though, only email.
- tasha0663 5y ago
  Giving out a phone number to make a phone call. The horror :)
charcircuit 5y ago
>and it is miles easier to use than Discord No, it's not. With Discord you can just send them a link and have them join your chat / vc. They don't need to install an app, not do they need to make an account.
- donkarma 5y ago
  you need to use app to voice chat on discord, and need an account to use anything on discord
  - yoavm 5y ago
    Unless this is a new thing, I used to do video and audio calls on Discord on Firefox on Linux without issues. No app.
  - charcircuit 5y ago
    The app is only needed for a couple features of voice chat like push to talk when Discord is in the background unfocused. Server owners are able to configure a verification level. When on the lowest verification level (which is the default setting when making a server) new users without a discord account can join by simply typing the nickname they would like to use.
- maven29 5y ago
  Navigation is horribly broken if you don't login. You're just stuck in a loop typing in usernames. Several OSS projects that I've seen even have sophisticated bot protection and code of conduct agreement schemes that will hide the useful channels until you apply reactions on verification messages. IRC channels used to keep public logs. Can we at least have parity with that?
voidfunc 5y ago
Signal is a pile of crap. Seriously I am in a small chat with four other people and sometimes it just doesn’t sync messages and when it does my phone turns into a vibrating sex toy for 20 minutes.
mcintyre1994 5y ago
Does Signal even have some sort of channels? From their website it looks like it's just chats like iMessage/WhatsApp etc? It might be great at what it does but no Discord I'm in would work without channels.
- gobip 5y ago
  It is exactly like WhatsApp. In fact, nowadays, WhatsApp is Signal (as in, they use the same protocol), but it's the same hierarchy: contacts + groups of contacts, and nothing else.
ViViDboarder 5y ago
I feel like Discord is very different than Signal or WhatsApp and target very different use cases. Signal and WhatsApp are basically replacements for phone, SMS, and MMS while Discord is meant to be more of a community with many people on many topics in many channels. They are all quite good at what they do, but they do different things. A more direct alternative to Discord is Matrix.
agentdrtran 5y ago
Discord and signal are completely different apps for very different use cases.

donkarma 5y ago

yeah how long until they run out of VC funding? no chance this is profitable. i know many people who use discord as their personal cloud storage

pteraspidomorph 5y ago
Anecdotally, yes, but I doubt most users deliberately make themselves unprofitable. There're millions of kids who just want to use voice chat and share meme gifs. Plus Discord has been gating a lot of features behind Nitro in recent years, and they make a lot of money from Nitro/Boost purchases (it's hard to tell since they're privately owned but they might make close to 200 million this year). I suspect they can stay afloat without VC funding (though they keep getting it anyway). And their valuation is really high.

vitaflo 5y ago

Agreed. They also do some black magic where even with my mic wide open it won’t pick up things I don’t want it to. I could eat potato chips right into the mic and it won’t turn the mic on, but as soon as I speak it does. The vox in discord always amazes me. It seems to always know what I want to transmit and what I don’t.